BILL NUMBER: AB 1518	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   919
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 9, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 7, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 7, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 13, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 27, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 13, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Soto
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aroner, Bock, and Longville)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 1999

   An act to add Sections 11325.9, 11325.91, 11325.93, and 11325.95
to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to public social
services.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1518, Soto.  CalWORKs:  multidisciplinary services teams.
   Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county
provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income
families.  Each county is required to pay a share of the cost of both
aid grant and administrative costs for the CalWORKs program.
   This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to
develop 3-year pilot projects in Alameda County, San Bernardino
County, and Ventura County, at the option of each county, to create
an integrated and coordinated case management system for the delivery
of services to families receiving CalWORKs benefits, through the use
of multidisciplinary service teams, as defined.  The teams would be
permitted to share information for the purpose of ensuring the
provision of appropriate health, educational, substance abuse,
social, and other services.  The bill would require the department to
prepare a report, for submission to the Legislature by April 1,
2002, on the impact of this pilot program.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Some long-term welfare dependent families face multiple
barriers to employment, including serious problems with substance
abuse, domestic violence, mental illness, and child abuse or neglect.

   (b) These hard-to-serve families may need intensive interventions
and treatment from a variety of service providers from different
disciplines over a period of time.
   (c) Local county welfare departments need to be able to develop
coordinated and integrated case management services with multiple
providers, such as therapists, school truant officers, public health
nurses, probation officers, child welfare workers, and substance
abuse counselors.
   (d) Communication between providers is essential to avoid
conflicting case plans, prevent duplications in services, and ensure
the family's timely access to needed services.
   (e) However, most of the programs that provide sensitive services
to families have strict confidentiality standards that appropriately
protect a family's right to privacy.
   (f) Operating under these restrictive confidentiality rules often
means that service providers work in isolation, exposing vulnerable
families to conflicting schedules and demands.
  SEC. 2.  Section 11325.9 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   11325.9.  (a) The department shall develop three-year pilot
projects in Alameda County, San Bernardino County, and Ventura
County, at the option of each county, to create an integrated and
coordinated case management system for delivery of services to
CalWORKs families who face multiple barriers to employment.  This
pilot program shall permit the exchange of information and records
between members of a multidisciplinary services team for the purpose
of coordinating services relevant to the prevention, identification,
and treatment of the family's barriers to employment.  Information
shared between members of the multidisciplinary services team shall
be maintained in a manner to ensure maximum protection of the family'
s privacy.  Information shall not be shared between the team or
otherwise disclosed, except as otherwise authorized by law, once an
individual and his or her family no longer receive CalWORKs benefits
or services.
   (b) For purposes of this section and Sections 11325.91 to
11325.96, inclusive:
   (1) "Multidisciplinary service team" or "team" means a team of two
or more persons trained and qualified to provide one or more of the
services listed in paragraph (2) who are assigned the responsibility,
within an integrated welfare system, for identifying the
educational, health, and social service needs of a member of an
assistance unit, and for developing a plan to address those needs.
Team members may include any of the following:
   (A) Representatives of public employment services agencies under
contract with the CalWORKs program.
   (B) Psychiatrists, psychologists, or other trained counseling
personnel involved in mental health treatment.
   (C) Providers of substance abuse treatment.
   (D) Medical personnel with sufficient training to provide health
services.
   (E) Any public or private school teacher, administrative officer,
supervisor of child welfare and attendance, or certificated public
personnel employee.
   (F) Representatives of a domestic violence shelter.
   (G) Probation officers.
   (H) Social workers with experience or training in child abuse or
abuse of elder or dependent adults.
   (I) Representatives from public housing agencies.
   (J) Other team members may be added if necessary and if approved
by the client if the team member agrees to abide by the
confidentiality requirements in Section 11325.93.
   (2) "Integrated welfare system" means programs established by the
state or by the pilot project county governments to provide two or
more of the following services to households in which recipients of
benefits under this chapter reside:
   (A) Child welfare services.
   (B) Employment services.
   (C) Health care services.
   (D) Mental health services.
   (E) Substance abuse prevention and treatment.
   (F) Child abuse prevention, identification, and treatment.
   (G) Elder or dependent adult abuse prevention, identification, and
treatment.
   (H) Public housing services.
   (I) Domestic violence counseling services.
   (J) Juvenile probation services.  However, representatives of
juvenile probation may provide information to other team members, but
may not receive information, records, or copies of records, from
other team members.
   (K) Educational services for children and adults.
   (L) Nutrition services.
   (M) Child care and development services.
   (N) Learning disability evaluation.
   (3) "Targeted population" means long-term welfare-dependent
families with multiple barriers to employment, including, but not
limited to, substance abuse, mental illness, child abuse and neglect,
and domestic violence.
  SEC. 3.  Section 11325.91 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   11325.91.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for
purposes of Section 10850, a team engaged in any activity permitted
pursuant to Section 11325.93 shall be deemed to be engaged in the
administration of public social services.
  SEC. 4.  Section 11325.93 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   11325.93.  (a) Team members may disclose to one another
information about, and view records on, members of an assistance unit
to the extent permitted by this section, for CalWORKs clients in the
targeted population.  In the operation of the pilot projects
authorized by Section 11325.9, information disclosed or records
viewed by team members shall be limited to relevant information or
records necessary to formulate an integrated services plan or to
deliver services to children and families.  All information or
documents, or copies of documents, to be disclosed by team members
shall be necessary to the prevention, identification, and treatment
of a parent's or guardian's barriers to employment.
   (b) If team members require records held by other team members,
copies may be provided subject to the limitations of subdivision (c).
  Requests for copies shall be limited to the records necessary to
formulate an integrated services plan, or to deliver services to
children and their families.
   (c) (1) Team members who receive information or records pertaining
to a member of an assistance unit shall be allowed to establish and
maintain a common computer data base for the purpose of planning and
delivering services.  The data base may contain demographic data and
data on the level of individual involvement with an assistance unit
member.  The data base shall be for the use and disclosure only
within the program, except by properly authorized consent of the
CalWORKs recipient.  A memorandum of understanding shall be
established that specifies what types of information may be shared
and for what purposes.
   (2) Juvenile probation services shall be involved in the
integrated welfare system for the limited purpose of providing
information that directly affects the parent's or guardian's ability
to participate in employment training or employment.
   (3) Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 56) of Division 1 of the
Civil Code, shall apply to the programs or services providing
integrated services.  Programs or services that seek access to an
individual's medical information, including mental health and drug
treatment records, shall be required to obtain informed authorization
from the individual or from the custodial parent or guardian if the
individual is a minor, unless a minor is authorized to give consent.
Medical information shall not be disclosed to any individual who is
not authorized to have that information pursuant to the
authorization.  Medical information shall not be disclosed for any
purpose not authorized by the authorization.  A client shall have
access to his or her medical information and the right to correct any
inaccurate information.
   (4) The pilot program may authorize use of information contained
in the data base for bona fide evaluation and research purposes,
unless otherwise prohibited by law.  No information disclosed under
this paragraph shall permit identification of the CalWORKs recipient
or his or her family members.
   (5) The release of copies of records protected by evidentiary
privileges, as defined in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 930) of
Division 8 of the Evidence Code, may take place only after the team
has received a form permitting release of records on the assistance
unit member, which is signed by the member or the member's custodial
parent or guardian if the member is a minor.  This paragraph shall
not be construed to waive any right of privilege contained in the
Evidence Code, except in compliance with Section 912 of that code.
   (d) The sharing of information permitted under subdivisions (a),
(b), and (c) shall be governed by memoranda of understanding among
the agencies represented on the team.  These memoranda shall specify
the types of information that may be shared without a signed release
form, in accordance with subdivision (c), and the process to be used
to ensure that current confidentiality requirements, as described in
subdivision (e), are met.
   (e) Every team member shall be under the same privacy and
confidentiality obligations and subject to the same confidentiality
penalties as the person disclosing or providing the information or
records.  The information or records obtained shall be maintained in
a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and
confidentiality rights.
   (f) This section shall not be construed to restrict guarantees of
confidentiality provided under federal law.
   (g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the
authority of a health care provider to disclose medical information
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 56.10 of the
Civil Code.
   (h) Information and records communicated or provided to the pilot
programs by all providers, programs, and agencies, as well as
information and records created by the program in the course of
serving CalWORKs recipients and their families, shall be deemed
private and confidential, and shall be protected from discovery and
disclosure by all applicable statutory and common-law protections.
Civil and criminal penalties shall apply to the inappropriate
disclosure of information held by the pilot programs.  This section
shall not affect the authority of a health care provider to disclose
medical information pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of
Section 56.10 of the Civil Code.
  SEC. 5.  Section 11325.95 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   11325.95.  The department shall prepare a report, for submission
to the Legislature on or before April 1, 2002, on the outcomes of the
pilot program established pursuant to Sections 11325.9 to 11325.93,
inclusive, improving coordinated case management, assisting
hard-to-serve CalWORKs families in alleviating multiple barriers to
employment, and integrating service delivery within the
multidisciplinary services team structure.  The department shall also
include in the report an analysis of the impact that record and
information sharing has on CalWORKs recipients and their families,
whether this information sharing pilot program results in increased
employment rates of hard-to-serve parents, and whether there are any
adverse consequences to recipients resulting from information sharing
among agencies.
